If the world is composed by facts, the order of ontology is such that components of facts if any are secondary Consider tlp 1 1 The world is everything that is the case.<http://news.rapgenius.com/2201767/Ludwig-wittgenstein-tractatus-logico-philosophicus-proposition-1/1-the-world-is-everything-that-is-the-case>*<http://news.rapgenius.com/2195678/Ludwig-wittgenstein-tractatus-logico-philosophicus-proposition-1/> 1.1 The world is the totality of facts, not of things.<http://news.rapgenius.com/2201792/Ludwig-wittgenstein-tractatus-logico-philosophicus-proposition-1/11-the-world-is-the-totality-of-facts-not-of-things> 1.11 The world is determined by the facts, and by these being all the facts.<http://news.rapgenius.com/2201810/Ludwig-wittgenstein-tractatus-logico-philosophicus-proposition-1/111-the-world-is-determined-by-the-facts-and-by-these-being-all-the-facts> 1.12 For the totality of facts determines both what is the case, and also all that is not the case.<http://news.rapgenius.com/2201817/Ludwig-wittgenstein-tractatus-logico-philosophicus-proposition-1/112-for-the-totality-of-facts-determines-both-what-is-the-case-and-also-all-that-is-not-the-case> 1.13 The facts in logical space are the world.<http://news.rapgenius.com/2201821/Ludwig-wittgenstein-tractatus-logico-philosophicus-proposition-1/113-the-facts-in-logical-space-are-the-world> 1.2 The world divides into facts.<http://news.rapgenius.com/2201653/Ludwig-wittgenstein-tractatus-logico-philosophicus-proposition-1/12-the-world-divides-into-facts> 1.21 Any one can either be the case or not be the case, and everything else remain the same.<http://news.rapgenius.com/2201660/Ludwig-wittgenstein-tractatus-logico-philosophicus-proposition-1/121-any-one-can-either-be-the-case-or-not-be-the-case-and-everything-else-remain-the-same> It may be worth remembering that the world is "composed" by facts that are not linked (e.g. by causality, see 1.21) And that the "case" (Fall) is determined by a totality of facts and not by things, processes, properties, objects, individuals or other purported entities. Any such is for Wittgenstein secondary And/or derivative From: lit-ideas-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:lit-ideas-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Donal McEvoy Sent: 19 June 2014 15:49 To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: [lit-ideas] Re: Some Wittgenstein passages >For W. the opposite is the case "the tree is growing" is a fact ontologically >prior to the alleged "thing" called growth or tree.> This sounds to me like just the kind of cobblers that both the early and later Wittgenstein were dead against. In case I am mistaken about this, and this is in fact what is claimed as "the case" "For W.", please could someone explain how _from Wittengenstein's writings_ we arrive at the claim '"the tree is growing" is a fact ontologically prior to the alleged "thing" called growth or tree." If this claim is in W's writings I appear to have missed it. DnlLdn On Thursday, 19 June 2014, 7:56, palma <palmaadriano@xxxxxxxxx<mailto:palmaadriano@xxxxxxxxx>> wrote: the point can be read, easily, as being non trivial. For, consider that the realm of the expressible is the realm of the real, give or take some fluff about the unsayable etc. what is expressible is propositionally structured, hence it is a thought (see G. Frege Gedankefuge, in LU.) It follows that things, independently from how ro who refers to "things", are not the what the totality of the world is. Whether this is true or false, lemme know. By my counts most people think there are things (they have in mind pens, trees, cars, houses, sometime even stars and atoms) and believe that "facts" are mental constructs of some sort. For W. the opposite is the case "the tree is growing" is a fact ontologically prior to the alleged "thing" called growth or tree. On Thu, Jun 19, 2014 at 12:19 AM, Omar Kusturica <omarkusto@xxxxxxxxx<mailto:omarkusto@xxxxxxxxx>> wrote: I will try to post in the coming days some W. passages with questions / comments. I apologize that the comments will likely be brief, as I am in a rather gloomy mood these days. The passages will probably be from the Tractatus and the PI. (I haven't got access to the Blue Book.) Tractatus 1.1 The world is the totality of facts, not of things. First, it is not entirely clear what is meant by the facts/things opposition, but I suppose that what is meant is mental facts, as opposed to material things. If so, where is the argument for this ? I mean, the materialist / idealist debate has been going on in philosophy since the pre-Socratics, so what makes W. think that we should accept his take on the matter just on his say-so ? It is not given as an axiom, as in Spinoza for example, instead it is pronounced by fiat. O.K. -- palma, e TheKwini, KZN palma cell phone is 0762362391 *only when in Europe*: inst. J. Nicod 29 rue d'Ulm f-75005 paris france